This twisted world
by LemonFrog
Summary: She had died. Then somehow she had come back to life. The only problem was that this new world in no way was the same as the one she had left behind. Honestly, Rize wasn't all that happy about her new life. Still she didn't want to kick the bucket again, so she would adapt if she had to. Disclaimer: This might get dark. Rated M for swearing, eventual sexual content and violence.
1. Chapter 1

_It was a typical September night, way too cold for comfort with a slate-grey sky and the occasional downpour. Kumiko put on her boots and coat. Her shift was over, and Hana-san would be there any moment to relieve her. The kids were already put to bed, so the night shift ought to be quite easy for her colleague. A soft knock could be heard, and Kumiko's brows furrowed, Hana had her own keys, she usually didn't knock. Maybe the other woman had forgotten them?_

_When she opened the door, it wasn't Hana who greeted her but a basket which contained a ball of fabric. Carefully she picked it up and unfolded some of the cloth to reveal a pale baby face with healthy rosy cheeks. It was a girl. A sigh escaped her lips. Yet another mouth to feed... Kumiko shot a quick glance down the street to see if she could find the person who left the child._

_There was no one._

_Without batting an eye, the young woman closed the door behind her and brought the sleeping baby inside. After five years of working at the orphanage, she was somewhat used to children being left on their doorstep. It was a more common occurrence than people thought. Once she had found it deplorable that anyone could even consider leaving their child like that. What woman could be so cold as to orphan her own blood if she was still well and alive? That was before she had understood that the world wasn't so black and white._

_What if the parents were too poor to care for their child? What if the child was a product of rape? Kumiko wasn't there to judge, her only job was to care for the orphans until they reached adulthood._

_When Hana-san came, Kumiko handed her the child with a short explanation of the situation before leaving._

**3 years:**

'麗世', Rize.

The first word Kumiko-san taught her to write was her name, Rize. It was Kumiko herself who had named her. There was no last name. Orphans didn't get those unless someone knew who their parents had been. While the caretaker praised her for being a quick learner, a genius girl, Rize just stared at the chicken scratch she had produced and despaired. If she didn't know what it was supposed to mean it would've been unintelligible. Not for the first time, she cursed her clumsy baby hands and the Japanese language in her head. Why, oh why, hadn't she been born in a world where English was the primary language? Rize hadn't heard anyone speak a word of her mother tongue, so she was left with the conclusion that English wasn't a thing here.

This whole situation frustrated her. In no way did she want to be a snot-nosed three-year-old. Once, she recalled, she had been Charlotte Barnes, a twentyone-year-old biomechanical engineering student with an easy smile and a sharp tongue. Her parents, Emily and Peter, had been very much alive and her baby brother, Marcus, had just turned 16. That was before the car accident, of course. Before her death. Rize missed everything about being Charlotte. Especially her brother. She missed him the most. So much so, that her chest ached when she thought about him. Charlotte had been part of a tight-knit family, but Rize didn't have anyone like that. In the beginning, that loss had felt overwhelmingly raw. Now she was thankful that she didn't have to care for anyone except herself. Loving a new family didn't seem plausible.

With time she had come to accept that she was not Charlotte anymore. Some days though she still looked in the mirror and expected to see a freckled face surrounded by brown curls. When the reflection showed a pale child with straight platinum hair and acid green eyes instead, she had to remind herself that was how she looked now. While not an ugly child, her colouring sure seemed wonky as fuck. Then again, she had seen weirder features in this new world, one of the other children had bloody fangs! Apparently, that was genetically possible here. If not, that would take some impressive gene editing skills and as far as she could tell this world didn't have the technology for something like that. Rize sincerely doubted they had access to biotechnological tools like CRISPR-cas9. Honestly, she questioned whether or not they even knew what antibiotics were. When a child fell sick at the orphanage, they never got any medicine but had to stay isolated until it passed. All in all, this world sadly seemed less technologically advanced than her last one.

Well, back to her botched attempt at writing. It was a piss poor attempt, but Rize knew the required finger dexterity would only develop if she practised a lot, so she just accepted Kumiko-san's empty praise and got back to work. She refused to be unable to do something as simple as writing...

A couple of days after she learned how to write another word: '木ノ葉隠れの里'. Konohagakure no sato. The name of her new home.

After barely a month Rize could write simple sentences, and half a year later she could write whole paragraphs.

**4 years:**

It was no secret that she was a fast learner. Everyone at the orphanage knew that she sucked knowledge up like a sponge. But for all her supposed genius, Rize would admit to being helplessly oblivious about life outside the orphanage's four walls. To be fair, it wasn't as if she had had a lot of opportunities to learn about her village. Playtime with the other kids seemed like a waste of time, so she never went on the weekly excursions to the local playground. And wandering the streets alone was not allowed, so she couldn't set out to explore Konoha on her own. It had never bothered her before that she knew little about her new birthplace. How different from her former world could it really be? There were more pressing issues at hand than knowing the history of her new home. Writing and reading were, for example, valuable skills she refused to go without.

Those stupid assumptions came crashing down on her one week before June began, when a man named Hideshi Takeo came to visit the orphanage.

Earlier that week, the caretakers had assembled all the children and sat them down to explain that they would receive an important guest later in the week. Everyone was to be on their best behaviour. After the talk, the children had gathered in groups to discuss who would want to visit them. Nobody ever visited the orphanage, and for once Rize allowed herself to be part of the conversation. She was just as curious about who this person might be as all the others. The first suggestion had come from a girl called Yua, who proposed that it might be the third Hokage himself. Rize quickly dismissed that idea. While she knew very little about the actual responsibilities of their village leader, he surely would be too busy to visit a bunch of brats. Akiro, the guy with fangs, was sure that it would be a shinobi who came to see them. Rize only snorted at the notion. That sure was a right load of codswallop. Ninjas only existed in the storybooks the caretakers allowed her to read. He was only six though so she supposed she could accept his childish insistence that they "truly, really did exist and why won't you believe me, Rize-chan. Even the Hokage is a ninja!". Personally, she thought it might be someone who wanted to adopt a child. The more she thought about it, the more likely that option seemed.

Imagine her gobsmacked expression when it turned out ninjas actually were real, and Akiro was right to assume that their guest, Hideshi-san, would be one of them. Apparently, Konoha was a ninja village: How had she not known that? The ninja protected Konohagakure against the other ninja villages and made sure a steady stream of income came in from contracts with outside employers. Again, how had she not known that? It didn't stop there though, chakra was real. And wasn't that a hard pill to swallow? The idea of chakra just seemed... too absurd to be true. If it wasn't because the so-called shinobi had shown them that he could walk up a wall, she would have accused him of taking the piss. He was there for a specific reason too: To recruit them for the ninja academy. Ludicrous really, she knew. Who the actual fuck wanted to join an academy that taught you how to kill? Akiro, that was who, he was practically bouncing in his seat with excitement while shooting her a wide grin. I told you so, it said, and wasn't he a smug pint-sized wanker?

Two of the older boys decided to join as well, but no one else seemed eager to go. At least some of the orphans had two brain cells they could rub together.

Once they were allowed to leave Rize bolted for the door, feeling slightly sick that the village she had come to think of as home was recruiting children to become part of their standing army. Ethically it didn't feel right. She knew now that she had been naive to expect people here to share her moral codes from a former life.

Just before she reached the door, a hand fell onto her shoulder, holding her back.

"Stay, Rize."

It was Kumiko-sans voice and was it just Rize, or did she sound slightly guilty? While the other kids trickled out of the room, she stood still watching. Akiro and the other volunteers were the last to leave. A sense that something terrible was going to happen settled in her stomach and weighed her down like a boulder.

Once they were the only ones left in the room with Takeo-san, Kumiko spoke up.

"I really did not want it to come to this. I hoped you might volunteer on your own."

"What do you mean?" Rize didn't bother with honorifics, her whole body felt slightly numb and heavy.

It was Takeo who answered.

"Normally, we let the civilian children chose for themselves whether or not they want to join the academy. Most won't have as much potential as the clan kids anyway."

Rize didn't know anything about any clans. God, she felt out of the loop. Really it was embarrassing how little she knew.

"But, these coming years Konoha's need for new shinobi will be... higher than usual, and Kumiko-san has reported that you're an unusually bright girl Rize-chan."

Kumiko nodded in agreement, "Rize-chan is surely a prodigy if I have ever seen one."

"We can't afford to let go of such talent in these trying times."

It didn't take much for her to deduce what he wasn't saying outright: She didn't have a choice whether she wanted to go to the academy or not. But why? There was something that he wasn't telling her, something important. Rize's eyes narrowed slightly, then widened.

"Are we going to war. You say Konoha will need more shinobi, that these are 'trying times'? Am I going to be fighting a war for this village?"

She had figured it out, so he didn't need to respond. She wanted to make him squirm, though. Wanted to see if this man could send children into battle without any remorse. How would he rationalise such a decision?

"I think you know the answer already Rize-chan. What I don't think you know is that those words are teetering dangerously close to slander against Konohagakure. You should be more careful about implying that Konoha does not deserve your unwavering loyalty in all matters as well as military actions. Refusing to serve your village is not looked well upon."

His tone was light, but his eyes were flinty, and Rize felt the tangible threat hanging in the air. It didn't sit well with her, the right to free speech was something she had valued as Charlotte. In Konoha, though, it seemed she would have to be more careful than she been back in England.

"It was never my intention to imply such a thing Hideshi-san," she even managed to send him a saccharine smile, "I understand my duty."

**4 years:**

She had until the beginning of August to prepare for her imminent enrollment at the academy. It wasn't long and, as such, the time should be used wisely. Rize convinced Kumiko to lend her some history books. This world had turned out to be way different from what she had imagined. She didn't want to be ignorant about it anymore.

Consequently, she spent her days with a book in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. On that paper, she wrote down the words she didn't understand yet and had to ask an adult about. In the beginning, there were a lot of words she didn't get, but as the weeks progressed, many became a few, and then, at last, she had a blank piece of paper. Konoha's history in and of itself was actually quite interesting.

Firstly came the story of the Uchiha-Senju peace treaty. Yes, she thought of it as a story. There was simply no way that everything had happened exactly as her books told her. Rize had snorted at what she presumed was the exaggerated tales of Senju Hashirama's greatness. A man who loved everyone equally yet had possessed the power to clear entire battlefields. A man who managed to make time for his wife and child while carrying the responsibility of being Hokage without faltering even once. Nobody was that perfect. At least a fourth of the first book was used to describe him and how he defined "the will of fire". It was a bunch of Konoha-propaganda. Everyone knew that it was the winners who wrote history, so it wasn't that surprising.

Secondly was the legacy of the second Hokage. Really he seemed like a scientist trapped in the wrong era. Rize could admire that, even if nothing else about him seemed especially likeable. He had probably been a genuine genius, she thought bitterly, nothing like her who was just an old soul trapped in a too-young body.

Thirdly was the tales of the second shinobi war. Of course, there was something about the third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen too, but Rise was more interested in his students. The legendary sannin. They were praised to the moon and back, which was ironic as Tsunade apparently had left Konoha shortly after the end of the war. Why? That wasn't mentioned at all, so fuck if she knew.

After reading about her village, she didn't know what to think. The books painted a seductive tale: They, Konohagakure, were the good guys, and a part of her wanted to believe it. Another part scowled at the tales and asked only one question: Would the good guys let children help fight their wars? Not where she came from, they wouldn't.

She read about the clans too, but there wasn't much information on them. Obviously, it would be stupid to showcase clan secrets in history books for civilians, but she was still disappointed.

The day before they had to start schooling, Kumiko took them shopping for ninja clothes. When he saw her Akiro beamed.

"Did you decide to join the academy too Rize-chan? That's so cool, maybe we will be in the same class!"

"Yeah, maybe." If her lack of enthusiasm got to him, he didn't show it.

Akiro was like that.

He and the two other boys, she didn't really know their names, seemed way too excited about the trip. Meanwhile, she just felt like a ball of tension and unease. There was absolutely nothing about the academy that she was excited about. Once they reached the shopping district, she had to pull herself out of her righteous self-pity. Making sure she got the proper gear was crucial if she wanted to survive this arse backwards world. Standard kunai and shuriken sets were first on the agenda along with pouches for them. Kumiko also bought white gauze to bind the pouches to their thighs. Rize kept the rest of her outfit neutral: A dark green kimono that reached her mid-thigh and black shorts. She couldn't help but notice that Akiro went for almost the same style except he actually wore long pants. He chose brighter colours than her. A letterbox red with gold edges to be exact. When all she could think about was how obvious a target that would make him, she felt disgusted with herself.

She didn't tell him about her thoughts, since he seemed genuinely happy with his new look. Still, she hoped she would never have to go on a mission with him. Rize wanted to live and running around in clothes that screamed "here I am, come at me" didn't further that goal.


	2. Chapter 2

On their first day, Kumiko walked them to the academy. Rize made sure to memorise the road. She would be expected to walk it herself from then on, and it wouldn't do to get lost. It wasn't a long tour, barely a twenty-minute walk with only three turns, so she did not worry all that much. Just ahead of her, the boys were walking. While they seemed to have an easy time talking together, her tongue had twisted up and now laid uselessly in her mouth. In a moment of weakness, she almost reached out for Kumiko's hand. Pathetic or not, the older woman was the closest thing she had come to a family member in this life. Then she remembered that the caretaker had been the one to put her in this situation in the first place. If she hadn't told Takeo that Rize had potential, she would've been back in her room with a good book and a cup of tea. So, she stopped herself from reaching out and clenched her fist instead.

The academy turned out to be a large white building with red roofs. Its architecture made it so that it blended into the surrounding city seamlessly. For some reason that surprised her, maybe she had expected it to be more prisonlike. Kumiko left them as they crossed the courtyard gates. Before Rize had a chance to take a deep breath and steel her nerves Akiro had taken her by the hand and pulled her across the yard into the building. Not for the first time, she thought about how much of a tosser he really was. Even then, she allowed him to interlace their fingers with the hope that it might anchor her. Being in a constant state of terror was unhealthy and would end up getting her killed. Logically, she knew that to be true. The sooner Rize could get over her fear of all things ninja, the better. It was easier said than done, though. Fear was ingrained deeply into every human being. As Charlotte, she had secretly feared lots of things: Spiders, heights, drowning, being stabbed to death, car accidents... The list was endless, but Rize couldn't allow herself to be like that anymore.

They arrived at a large hall, where she was squeezed in between Akiro and the other children there. In the far end of the room, a podium stood upon a stage. Rize recognised the man standing behind it because she had seen his face carved into the mountain above the city. Sarutobi Hiruzen looked just like his stone figure, except for his hazel eyes. They held a warm gleam. Momentarily she forgot he was a dangerous shinobi. It should be impossible to exude such warmth when you had the blood of thousands on your hands. Indeed, it was remarkable how good he was at seeming harmless.

When he opened his mouth to speak, silence fell upon the crowd. His voice was a striking baritone.

"Welcome. As you may know, it has always been and will continue to be the greatest honour of the Hokage to welcome Konoha's newest recruits. Since the beginning of our village, the academy has stood as a sign of unity. A place where the youngest amongst us can train safely together and get stronger no matter their clan. Today, it warms my heart to see so many of you here, eager and ready to take up the mantle to protect Konoha from those who wish us harm. The will of fire burns brightly amongst you. I am confident that this generation will bring glory to the village, as your parents and their parents have done before you. I rejoice in the knowledge that our village will rest safely in your hands once the time comes because I know that you will do what is necessary. Always remember, we must protect our way of life no matter the cost."

The way he spoke sucked her in, Sarutobi-sama sounded genuinely like he believed in everything he was saying. If she wasn't so petrified by his last sentence, Rize would've believed him too. "no matter the cost". Those were the words that burned themselves into her mind.

Around her, the other children seemed enthralled. For no particular reason, she found her eyes resting on a small girl to her right. She was a pretty child with fair skin and long black hair tied with a white ribbon. Chubby baby cheeks revealed that the girl couldn't be much older than herself. Her eyes were a shade of red that would be associated with red wine back in Charlotte's world. They gleamed with a mix of adoration and pride. Rize found she couldn't blame her for that. Their Hokage seemed like a man it was easy to revere. Especially if one had grown up listening to the stories she had read in Kumiko's history books. That girl had never been told that it was wrong to train children to be soldiers. No one in the audience had ever been told how completely unacceptable it was, and Rize couldn't do anything about it, she was an inconsequential brat, god damnit. Who would listen to someone like her? Most likely, she would get accused of treason if she dared speak up in her current situation.

Hokage-sama finished his speech, and she let go of Akiro's hand to clap along with everyone else. Afterwards, they were split into their new classes. Rize didn't think twice about it when she wasn't in the same class as any of the other orphans. Statistically, the chances had been slim. Nonetheless, the girl she had been eyeing during the welcome ceremony was in her class.

Her teacher was a man, Isao-sensei, with short brown hair and dark eyes. He looked like the kind of guy you would walk past on the street without looking twice at and promptly forget as soon as he was out of sight.

Their first four hours of school was devoted to a physical assessment... If one was to be polite about it, Rize's stamina was proper shite.

Isao-sensei started off by making them do with a timed run around the outer edges of the academy's private training ground. Although the entirety of their route couldn't be more than two kilometres long, Rize was already wheezing by the halfway point. Granted she wasn't the absolute worst in her class, that dubious honour went to one of the other girls. But she was so far from being the best that it was laughable -the fact that the fastest kid in class had been a boy with an atrocious bowl cut and a green bodysuit didn't feel great either. Never before had she been beaten by someone who didn't even know how to wear proper clothes. Charlotte hadn't been competitive, but Rize could feel jealousy rear its ugly head whenever she as much as glanced at that boy. Apparently, something had changed since her last life. Maybe it was due to getting a new body. Some traits were caused partly by genetics. It was entirely plausible that her new body gave her a competitive streak. No matter what, it was an unpleasant feeling.

After their run, they had to do an obstacle course. Here Rize did a bit better since she was able to see how the other children before her tackled the various challenges. Starting out strong, she sprinted across the balancing beam. Loads of other students before her had fallen off of it simply because they took so damn long to cross that they lost their balance. Rize didn't want to fail at the very first obstacle, it would be too embarrassing. The next challenge, a climbing wall, she completed without any problems, except for a thought of "omg, fuck, it's way higher than I thought it would be", which she repressed as soon as it popped up. Crawling underneath the wire that zigzagged a sand grave wasn't too hard either, but she was sure she would never get all that sand out of her hair again. Problems arose once she reached the part where she had to climb up a long rope. She simply didn't have the strength needed, and after four consecutive failures, Isao-sensei told her to stop trying. Her cheeks reddened by equal parts exhaustion and humiliation as she removed herself from the obstacle course.

Lastly, they were taught the first out of five standardised katas. By the end of that Rize felt like she had just been run over by a truck and to make matters worse, she was sweating like a pig. The green boy hadn't even broken a sweat. That made her feel all kinds of things, and wow, Rize certainly had a tendency towards jealousy. Instead of continuing to look at the source for all her emotional discombobulation, she decided to shift her gaze downwards. She would need to find a way to handle her feelings if she didn't want to turn into a miserable git, now wouldn't she?

"Are you alright?" It was the girl from the ceremony, and she looked to be just as battered as Rize, somehow that brightened her mood just a tad.

"Just fine and dainty."

"It's just..." The girl shuffled from one foot to the other, "you were really staring at your sandals like they had done something horrible to you. Did you get a blister or something?"

Yeah, she snorted. Rize wished getting a blister was her biggest problem. When she didn't respond the other continued.

"I'm Yūhi Kurenai by the way. You can just call me Kurenai. If you would like to, I mean."

While she didn't find the girl to be especially interesting, she didn't want to be outright rude, so she extended her hand. "I'm Rize, Kurenai-chan."

They locked hands in a clammy, sweaty handshake and a small smile spread across Kurenai's face. Given she survived the coming war, Kurenai would grow up to be a beautiful woman, Rize mused.

They ate lunch together, Kurenai was alright for a child, she decided. Still, she was a child with a child's mind. So, when Kurenai asked whether she wanted to join her and the other kids for a game of ninja Rize declined. For the rest of her lunch break, she sat in the shade of a large tree placed in the middle of the courtyard and observed the other kids. Most of them were dull to look at. One could only watch so many games of ninja before it became quite tedious and repetitive. However, the green-clad boy from before was anything but boring. He was talking animatedly to another boy with grey hair and a mask that covered only the lower part of his face. He wasn't in their class. If he was Rize for sure would have remembered him considering his strange looks. No matter how many times she saw people with unnatural hair or eye colours, she was never going to get used to it. The grey-haired boy seemed insistent on ignoring her classmate. Obviously, he didn't want to talk, and that just made the whole spectacle way more fun to watch. Another situation she found mildly humorous was the one that was unfolding between a clueless Kurenai and a boy she recognised from class. He was a cute child with dark hair and chipmunk cheeks that blushed a violent red every time he as much as glanced at Kurenai. Puppy love, she thought, so innocent yet awkward. Maybe she would become friends with the girl just to see how that situation unfolded.

After the break, they continued. This time with a written assessment of their literacy, math skills and general knowledge. Rize knew she aced everything that had to do with reading and writing. The math portion wasn't hard, but it didn't remind her of any exam she had taken back in her old world. Questions like: "If you throw a kunai from a distance of 40 m at a target below you and its acceleration is decided by gravity, how long does it take for it to reach its target?" seemed more like applied physics than math to her. Anyway, it was no cause of concern, Rize had excelled at scientific subjects in her old world, and she still remembered most of what she had learned. It was only once she reached the last part of her questionnaire that she began having some trouble. Her general knowledge was like an old fishing net: Filled with gaping holes some places and but tightly knit otherwise. Questions about Konoha's history and basic anatomy was child's play. In contrast, any questions regarding all the other hidden villages, common poisons and shinobi rules sucked arse.

In the end, Rize felt confident that she had done a lot better than on her physical evaluation.

* * *

_Takahashi Isao had seen many kids complete their entrance tests in his time as a teacher. Usually, they fell into one of three categories._

_The first kind of children did a bit above the average on both the physical and written test, those were usually your clan kids. They had received some sort of training before they arrived at his door and were generally ready to graduate after about three to four years at the academy. The second kind were the ones who excelled at both exams. Those children were the ones everyone whispered stories about before they even graduated. 'Prodigies' was usually the word associated with them, and most likely they would graduate after only a year or two. Secretly Isao pitied those kids. He had seen enough of the so-called 'geniuses' and 'prodigies' to know that life was never kind to them. The third type was the civilian born. They usually did below average on their physical examination and just about average on their written test._

_Naturally, there were always some pupils who deviated slightly from the norm. Still, for the most part, he could fit his students into neat boxes. Therefore, he had assumed that assessing his newest class, while tedious and time-consuming, wouldn't cause him too much of a headache._

_It had started out fine. The physicals went as expected: The clan children did above average, and the civilian kids did below average. Isao found only one child that stood out, Maito Gai, who did exceptionally well. He marked that one down as a "prodigy" and potential future taijutsu specialist. Once they got to the written test, things had started going off the rails. All children except for one had done exactly like anticipated: The civilian kids did about average, the clan children did a bit above average, and Maito-kun had proven that his intellect extended beyond taijutsu._

_The one kid who had shattered his expectations was an orphan, Rize. At first glance, she was ordinary. The girl displayed no exceptional taijutsu skills. To be honest, she did below average on her physical examination. Isao had been quick to mark her down as a category three. As it turned out, that had been an error. Rize's written test had been surprising to say the least. It revealed a keen mind, more so than what he expected from a child her age. The test had been intentionally designed to do two things. 1) test how much a child knew before they entered the academy, and 2) snuff out sleeper agents disguised as children. Every category on it contained questions even the brightest students shouldn't be able to solve. Regardless of that, Rize had been able to answer all problems relating to literacy and mathematics. The girl had also managed to solve most of the questions from the general knowledge portion. It was unprecedented to see such results, especially for kids raised in a civilian environment. They had no prior training; they were not supposed to know so much. Isao was left to conclude that the girl was either unusually sharp or a spy masquerading as a child. The latter seemed most likely, but he couldn't help but feel doubt. If she was a spy, surely she would've received some kind of taijutsu training. He was confident that the girl hadn't been feigning exhaustion during their first test. Her katas had also been clumsy, it had been clear the girl had no muscle memory whatsoever. Besides, if she had tried to seem inconspicuous, why had she not tried to hide her intellect?_

_Uncertain of what to think, he had made a visit at the Citizen Registration Office to borrow the girl's file._

_The CRO, as it was commonly called, was a large grey building hidden away from civilian eyesight in the southernmost part of the village. It held files on every person that had ever set foot in Konohagakure, foreign or not. Somewhere in that building, he knew that a manila folder with his name and personal identification number existed. It didn't bother him much since he knew that he had no reason to worry. Only criminals and traitors had to worry about being watched. Takahashi Isao was as loyal as they came. In that, he took a certain amount of pride._

_Inside the building, behind a large wooden desk, sat a strict looking woman with a missing arm. She had probably been a kunoichi once, now she wasn't going to be of much use on the battlefield._

_"I need the file on subject p12050476."_

_"ID," she ordered._

_"Takahashi Isao, number p10002311. Status: jounin."_

_She nodded, "wait here. I'll get it for you."_

_No further questioning was necessary. Isao was a jounin, and jounins had access to all files except for those on Anbu operatives, higher-ranked officials and themselves. When the woman came back, she handed him a thin folder._

_"Bring it back before 7 pm tomorrow, and make sure no one sees it."_

_With a nod, Isao tucked the file away. The CRO was sort of an open secret. While all shinobi that were deemed trustworthy and above the rank of genin knew it existed, everyone else weren't allowed to know. After all, if everyone knew they were being watched, the spies and conspirators would put more effort into hiding their tracks._

_He only sat down to look through her file when he was safely at home with all the curtains shut. Going through it didn't take long. Four years of civilian life wasn't enough time to gather a meaningful papertrail. It contained no suspicious information. Apparently, Rize had been left at the orphanage when she was only an infant. A caretaker by the name of Fukunaga Hana had been the one to make sure the child got checked for foreign chakra influences. It was a routine check done to make sure that no agents entered the village under the guise of a child. There had been no traces of any sort of foreign chakra, but it had been noted that the child had an abnormally strong spiritual chakra output. The latest addition to her folder had been a paper by another jounin, Hideshi Takeo. It concerned her admittance to the academy, which apparently had been involuntary. Hideshi-san hadn't written a lot. One remark, however, caught Isao's eye. Another caretaker, Koizumi Kumiko, had insisted the young orphan was a genius._

_He closed the folder. That settled it then. Most likely, the child was just that: A child. Nothing more and nothing less. He had worried for no reason. Still, as much as Isao wanted to just go to bed and forget everything about his new student, he couldn't. Protocol dictated Hokage-sama needed to be informed of any potential threats to Konoha no matter how unlikely they appeared to be. Ever the conscientious man he was, he set off for the Hokage Tower._

_It was late, so he didn't have to wait long for an audience._

_"Good afternoon, Isao-san," Sarutobi-sama welcomed him with a pleasant smile._

_"Hokage-sama," he greeted once the door shut behind him, "I have come to report a potential person of interest."_

_Immediately the atmosphere in the room changed from warm and relaxed to something colder, more calculating. Isao could feel the weight of his Hokage's sharp eyes. A lesser man would've looked away to avoid the older man's insistent stare. As it was, he was a war veteran and a former infiltration specialist. He had subjected to enough unpleasant situations to meet Sarutobi-sama's eyes with a steady gaze._

_"It concerns a student of mine, an orphan named Rize identifiable as p12050476."_

_"I am listening."_

_Those words were clearly a request for him to continue, so he did. Not once did the Hokage interrupt him, and when Isao was finished, he looked to be deep in thought. Finally, after what felt like several minutes of silence, his leader spoke up._

_"I agree with your assessment. The girl probably isn't dangerous but keep an eye on her regardless. More importantly, if she is as sharp as you describe her to be, she could become a significant asset to the village given proper training. Make sure she gets that training. I want her out of the academy as quick as possible: These are trying times."_

_"Hai, Hokage-sama."_

_"You're dismissed, Isao-san."_

_He bowed before leaving._

* * *

By the end of the following week, Rize became convinced her teacher had a personal vendetta against her. He just went harder on her than everyone else without any apparent reason.

When they were doing their katas he would watch her like a hawk. At the slightest misstep, he would be quick to punish her with his cane. Apparently, corporal punishment was allowed here. The first time he had hit her, tears had welled up in her eyes. Not because it hurt, but because it had been unexpected. In her old world, hurting children had been frowned upon. To make matters worse, kids were supposed to trust their teachers. Naturally, it hadn't occurred to her that it would be any different here. As such, she had felt oddly betrayed by that first blow. Any kind of fragile respect she held for the man had been broken then and there. Nevertheless, after the initial shock had gone by, Rize couldn't help but notice that she was the one her sensei hit the most. At first, she thought it was because she was doing worse than her classmates. Then came the realisation that loads of the other kids did just as poorly as her, and they weren't coloured black and blue by the end of the day. It didn't stop there, though. Whenever they did other, more common, types of physical conditioning, she could practically feel his stare drilling into her: Urging her to do her absolute best. Even when they had to learn about things like geography, politics and shinobi rules, he drilled her mercilessly. Every other question he asked seemed to be directed at her. The only time he let up the relentless barrage was when lectures revolved around a subject, she already knew everything about. It got to a point where even Kurenai caught on. The other girl had begun sending her glances full of pity and incomprehension. Clearly, she didn't know what Rize had done to deserve such treatment. For her part, Rize figured that her teacher was a sadistic son of a bitch. Sometimes, when she did really bad at something, he would even frown as if disappointed in her.

His frowns became more frequent over the coming month. Rize got a distinct impression that he had somehow expected her to progress at a faster rate than she was. To know that he was disappointed in her without being able to do anything about it set her on edge.

It was that feeling that made her heart stop beating for a second when he asked her to stay behind one Friday afternoon after their last lesson. Last time someone had asked her to stay behind, she had ended up at the academy.


End file.
